Desmond Child Talking about Writing LOAP
 

Good video of Desmond Child talking about the writing of Living on a Prayer. No big secret, but it interesting nonetheless:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=X-vO_58XRKs

So Tommy and Gina are not Jon's friends then, are they?

Here's him talking about You Give Love a Bad Name (and how it's basically a Bonnie Tyler rip-off - posted it in the Richie thread already):

So, Gina was a real person then afterall eh? Do I not remember JBJ not saying it was someone he knew, but they had 'changed their names to protect their innocence'' or some crap? He says something like that on the MTV awards show acoustic performance.

But yeah, even if Desmond had more or less the core of the song when he brought it to JBJ and RS, safe to say it wouldn't have been a hit without (Jon)/Richie's input. The talkbox and bassline add so much to the song, and whilst its still a great tune played stripped back on the piano as Desmond's demo probably was, it's the stadium filling chorus that really kills it!


Andi

Every writer involved has claimed Tommy and Gina was someone they knew. Desmond and Maria Vidal, Jon's said they were his high shool mates, a guy who got a scolarship to go play baseball in college 'till his gf got pregnant. And Richie recently said he was thinking of his parents when they were writing the lyrics. Go figure.

Honestly while I tend to agree I don't see how safe it is to say that regarding Jon's input in that song. I can totally see his input being minimal, hence his "I didn't think it was a hit when we wrote it".

Yeah, that's why I put Jon's name in brackets..but at the end of the day, it IS a fantastic vocal from him which was bound to help it's success in some way.


Andi

I agree. This interview actually made me believe that jon and Richie had more to do with it than I initially thought... being that when they started it together... I always figured DC brought it in nearly finished.

That all being said, even if they didn't have much to do with writing it, Jon's vocals and tweaks to the melody (and talkbox) have a lot to do with it being as successful as it was.

Hugh wrote the bassline.

Well according to the interview he did not have anything, and all 3 of them were together when they started writing it. He says he "came into the room without any idea".

LOL did the host say "Jon's heavy metal image":cool:

Interview: Desmond Child talks working with Bon Jovi, Meat Loaf, Ricky Martin and his upcoming autobiography

https://www.entertainment-focus.com/...autobiography/

''I noticed that you haven’t written with Jon, though, since Richie left the band. He seems to be using Billy Falcon more as a co-writer these days. Is that deliberate on your part or just happenstance?

No, I think that maybe Jon is more comfortable these days where he is. We have written some songs together, just he and I, but people shift and change as they get older. He’s written a lot with his producer (John Shanks) who is also now a semi-permanent member of the band too. There has been a natural evolution for him.''

And here's Dave talking about what he wrote for Prayer (and never got credit for):

https://youtu.be/FdDgXxFll3Y?t=190

Interesting! I thought it was Hugh that came up with that part but now Im not sure if I'm confusing it with something else.

They've always talked about how the bass line they had sounded too much like something else, so it was tweaked in the studio. I too believe that it was Hugh who came up with the one we know.

In the album "The Powerstation Years" there's a song called "Don't Leave Me Tonight" and there's a line that reads "Tommy's home and waiting up for you". So I'd say Tommy is Jon's character.

I'm pretty sure the character was originally Johnny but he didn't feel comfortable with that.

I've given up trying to figure out who contributed which portion on that song long time ago. Everyone who played some part in that mega hit has told their own versions of how it came together or what was changed, no matter if it's Jon, Desmond, Richie, David or Hugh and some parts always overlap and cut in on each other. They've all told these stories so many times and probably changed little details here and there that they most likely don't even properly remember who really contributed just how much.

Agreed. Though it'd be nice to see who said what and when. Dave's instructional video would have been during the New Jersey promo I think? A lot of the other anecdotes about who did what came much later I'd think.

I think both instruction videos from Dave and Tico were late '87 after the SWW tour, so yeah, that was still pretty close to the song's origin.